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Stephanie chats with Nadine Rich of Teton Waters Ranch to discuss strategies for getting healthy meals on the table in no time flat. Nadine is a busy mama of three, works full-time, and recently completed a #breastfeedingWhole30. She shares her favorite #breastfeedingWhole30 non-scale victories (#NSV) and best tips for keeping milk supply strong! They also talk about the importance of choosing quality animal protein and explore concepts like regenerative agriculture and animal welfare. If you’re on a budget, you’ll love the tips for keeping costs down so it’s more accessible.

LISTEN

Nadine Rich 0:03
Cattle were meant to kind of be out on pasture and eating grasses. Our farm like planned operational system now that the US has in terms of putting cattle into feed locks and giving them grades and giving them things that they’re not going to digest and they’re not meant to eat has really altered kind of what beef is.

Stephanie Greunke 0:25
Welcome back to the Whole Mama’s podcast. We’re here to give you tools, resources and evidence based information so you can make the best decisions for yourself and your family. Whether you’re trying to conceive or or navigating life with a toddler or a teenager. We’ve got you covered. I’m Stephanie Greunke, registered dietitian and program director for Whole30’s Whole Mama’s club. I’m also the co-creator of Whole Mama’s pregnancy program and upcoming postpartum program. And my co host, Dr. Elena Roumell, is a pediatric naturopathic doctor and the creator of med school for moms, an online resource where she teaches moms how to safely be a doctor mom. Today I’m interviewing Nadine Rich, who is a mom of three little ones and the director of marketing for Teton Waters Ranch, a company offering 100% grass fed and finished beef products, including a product I purchased almost every time at Costco, their grass fed beef sausages. Their products are almost entirely Whole30 approved, with a few obvious exceptions, like the ones that have cheese or maple syrup, so they’re a great convenience option if you’re planning on doing a Whole30 or a quick weeknight meal. I wanted to bring Nadine on the show today to help us understand concepts like regenerative agriculture and animal welfare, which are important considerations when it comes to purchasing animal protein. I also knew that as a busy mama of three with a full time marketing job, Nadine would have some great tips to help make easy healthy family meals. You’ll hear lots of tips for keeping it simple in the kitchen and how to keep costs down if you want to purchase grass fed meat better on a budget. She also shares her experiences doing a Whole30 while nursing. Speaking of doing a Whole30, don’t forget that from now until September 3rd we’re offering $40 off our Whole Mamas pregnancy program with the discount code PODSCASTS19. You’ll get the pregnancy program and two months of free Whole30 coaching from six coaches including myself. You’ll get support for preparing for your Whole30, guidance during reintroduction and support from a psychologist and Whole30 coach to help you discover your food freedom. If you aren’t interested in doing a Whole30 that’s totally cool. Our pregnancy program shows you how to build a healthy pregnancy diet that doesn’t require you to do a Whole30. I can’t wait to meet you in our private group. So head over to wholemamasclub.com, click join now and use code PODCASTS19 to purchase our pregnancy program. Aright onto the show. Thank you for coming on the show, Nadine.

Nadine Rich 2:57
I’m so happy to be here. Thanks for having me.

Stephanie Greunke 2:59
Now you’re currently the Director of Marketing at Teton Water Ranch, which is a company that offers 100% grass fed and finished beef products like sausage links, hotdogs and burgers. I met you at Expo West last year, and I was so impressed by what your company is doing to create a regenerative humane and healthy convenience product. The mamas and mamas to be that are listening are a lot like myself, that they value healthy food, but at this stage in their life, they also really value convenience, which your company does so well. So I’m excited to dig in and hear more about what your company is doing, how, as a full time employee and mom of three little ones, you make healthy eating work for your family. But before all that we have to start with our favorite question that we ask all of our experts, which is how did you nourish yourself today? or How are you planning to nourish yourself today?

Nadine Rich 3:50
Thank you so much for having me. What I do every day to just kind of kick off the day for me on the right foot is I make a fresh smoothie every morning. It’s chock full of veggies and some fruits with a base of kind of almond milk and coconut water. And I feel like that just helps me kind of kick off the day with the right mindset of how am I gonna go into the day and go into the world with a healthy start. And it also just gives me a couple of minutes, quite frankly, to zone out and make it as I chopper assemble my ingredients. So I started my day off with that this morning. And I try to do that every day.

Stephanie Greunke 4:28
Well, that sounds great. Yeah, I have been enjoying a smoothie lately too. And I love that you’re starting the day already off with a couple of cups of fruits or vegetables in you. Even if the day gets away from you and you have a less veggie or fruit heavy lunch or dinner You did well in the morning. You’ve already checked off that box. So I love that. Do your little ones have it with you? Do you share it with them? Or is it all yours?

Nadine Rich 4:52
I do. I usually make enough for myself and my husband when he’s home. He works from home and then he travels a lot. So he’ll get some and then my older two are hit or miss and how often I can get them to drink it quite frankly. But my baby, my one year old, drinks it every day and is so excited about it.

Stephanie Greunke 5:09
Yeah, very cool. I love that you can make it different colors too. So sometimes it’s blue and red and sometimes it’s green. It’s really fun to kind of play with that and let them throw things in the blender. We enjoy that here too.

Nadine Rich 5:20
Exactly. My one year old actually started to dance along to the blender, which is hilarious in and of itself. But she’ll sit there in her highchair and kind of watch and dance along and squeals until I put it in her cup for her.

Stephanie Greunke 5:31
Oh my gosh, how cute. Yeah, mine will kind of do the opposite sometimes, where if they’re watching a show, and then I have my VitaMix. And I’m like trying to grind all these really thick, heavy vegetables. And they’re like mom, like my show. I can’t hear it. And they always pause their show, they get so mad at me.

Nadine Rich 5:47
My five year old will do the same thing.

He puts his hands over his ears. He’s like, “that is so loud.” I’m like, well you need the VitaMix, it really cranks through.

Stephanie Greunke 5:55
It really does. I know I can probably chop it a little bit better. But I’m like, I’ll just throw a half a cucumber in there, it’ll be fine.

Nadine Rich 5:59
fIt’ll be fine. Yeah.

Stephanie Greunke 6:02
Yesterday, I actually went to a yoga event. One of my friends invited me to this Lululemon yoga event in Carlsbad, it was outside. I haven’t done yoga in a really long time, but it was something that I was doing pretty regularly. And man, it felt so good to get back out there and being outside and feeling that energy from everybody around me that are trying to better themselves. They’re working through stuff because we’re all working through stuff. Just really that mind body connection is something that I feel like many of us disconnect to because we’re running around from work to kids to taking care of everybody else. To slow it down a little bit, and to stretch and just really be with your thoughts was incredible. I can’t believe I have gone so long without doing that. actually just signed up this morning to for a yoga studio that is opening up close to my house. There really wasn’t any good yoga studios by my house. So now that there is going to be one opening up in July, I’m excited to get back into it.

Nadine Rich 7:02
Oh, that’s awesome. You know, one of the things I’ve been also trying to do is, I saw this on one of the Meslissa’s posts, quite frankly, and the Whole30, is this Five Minute Journal. You spend a couple minutes in the morning and at night, and this is my goal for the next kind of month is how do I do that and set intentions for the day and then close out the day thinking about it. I think your point about just taking a couple of minutes or time, whether it’s a yoga class or journal or meditating in the morning, can just kind of reframe how you’re looking at things. It’s something that I think busy moms, like I’m always busy running around and taking care of everybody else, how do I take some time to kind of nourish myself and feed myself that way too.

Stephanie Greunke 7:42
Oh yeah, it’s so important. I like to actually do it at the end of the day, as well. I usually do one or the other. But at the end of the day, it’s really fun too, because you are focused on finding the things that you’re grateful for all day so that at the end of the da you have something. It’s almost like you’re on a treasure hunt during the day, bcause you know you have to fill that journal at the end. And so, you know, you could do it at the beginning of the day or the end of the day, whatever works best for you. But yeah, I think that’s really important, I’m glad we were able to kind of share some of the things that we’re working on. And you know, every day is just trying to figure out what we’re capable of in this busy season and adding just a little bit at a time when it feels ready for us. So thank you for sharing that. And you know your energy, I’m sure people already sense it. But I just when I met you and having communications with you via email, I’m just really inspired by your energy and passion for educating your customers and the general public about choosing healthy or animal protein. And so that’s why I wanted to bring you on the show today is just to explain who you are. What Teton is doing a Teton Waters Ranch is doing and what led you to doing the work that you’re doing now.

Nadine Rich 8:51
No, of course. So again, I really appreciate being on here. I recently moved my family to Boulder, Colorado, from Chicago. And you know, some of the things that motivated me, quite frankly, is just the ability with the mountains and to be outside and active all the time. But as we’ve talked about, I have I have a young family. And so I uprooted all of them. I have a husgand, a five year old, a three year old and a one year old, for this great opportunity to work at Teton Waters Ranch. And, you know, I was motivated because it’s a company I respect so much because of its missions and values. And you spoke a little bit about it. But the entire kind of purpose and foundation for Teton Waters Ranch is building a regenerative, healthy and humane food system for all. And that just really spoke to me as I think about my kind of career journey and the path that led me to where I am today. I work in marketing. And I started my career in these larger food companies that work on brands that probably you, many of your listeners, grew up eating. I know I did. Foods that come from like Kraft or Tyson. And as I’m worked in these companies, and I’ve learned more about how our food system really workds, these products that I was marketing, I just didn’t feel comfortable kind of putting in my body or putting on my kids plate. And so when I found Teton Waters Ranch, the ability to come in and kind of lead up to marketing team, I was immediately attracted to its mission and its values. You know, as I mentioned, it’s focused on a regenerative healthy food system. And then as I think about kind of what we call internally, our pillars, there’s really three things that set us apart. And it’s the focus on being better for the planet, being better for the animals, and being better for you. And that’s why I uprooted my family from Chicago after being there for 15 some years and moved to Boulder because I was excited about this. When I think about being better for the planet, it’s a regenerative farming, and agriculture focus. So our animals and our cattle are always out on pasture. And that stimulates our mimics what kind of these great herds have done over the millennia in terms of eating and, you know, fertilizing where they eat and chainging dirt into real live soil, because you’re putting carbon back in, or better for the animals focus around being certified humane, we think is so important for animals kind of quality of life. And then the better for you as I think about the meat composition, which I’m sure we’ll talk about more, that’s just different than grain and cattle fed. And so, for me, all these things kind of pointed me to this, this role that I’m in right now. And I think about how refreshing it is every day to work with people who have an energy and a passion like I do. And we’re focused on things because they’re the right thing to do versus solely being focused on the bottom line.

Stephanie Greunke 11:33
And I respect you so much for that because it is hard, it’s hard. You know, you can’t be in a position where you don’t believe in what you’re selling, especially if you’re in marketing. I mean, that’s, that’s also why I left the hospital setting is because I didn’t feel in alignment with what the hospital was preaching to tell these people what they should be eating, to heal and to get better. And so that’s why I did private practice. So it does, it takes a lot of bravery to stop doing what’s maybe comfortable or what you’re used to and completely uproot your family to somewhere. And, you know, you said you were from Chicago. And I’m like, that’s why I love her because I’m also from the Midwest, I’m from Wisconsin. And I’m like, yeah, you can kind of just tell when people are from the Midwest, they’ve got that energy. So very cool. So let’s kind of talk about those pillars. So you said that what you’re doing with your brand, you’re really making sure that the products that you’re producing benefit our health. They’re better for us, they’re better for the environment, and they’re better for the animals. So can we talk about why is this product, why is grass fed and finish, and we’ll talk about what those labels mean, better for us?

Nadine Rich 12:39
Yeah. Now, so you know, thinking about it, just from the kind of the meat that you’re going to be consuming. Cattle, were meant to kind of be out on pasture and eating grasses and our you know, farm like land operational system now that the US has in terms of putting cattle into feed locks and giving them grains and giving them things that they’re not meant to digest and they’re not meant to eat is really altered kind of what beef is. And so if you look at the cattle that we have that are out on pasture, you know, they’re able to walk, they’re able to go forward and get their kind of own food and their bodies are taking in what they’re meant to do. And so or they’re meant to eat and consume. And so the meat composition is just different. It’s leaner meat with a better kind of quality, fat. And so as we think about omega six and three ratios, and you think about CLA or conjugated linoleic acid, these types of things that are that are found is better quality fats found in grass fed. And finished beef reduces the risk for heart disease and other things like that. And so it’s just a healthier quality beef that you’re putting into your body. And I think it makes all the difference in the taste as well.

Stephanie Greunke 13:45
Yeah, and especially, you know, for the people that are listening, that are pregnant, and that are nursing, we know that the quality of fats do show up in your breast milk. And so if you’re eating really high quality fats, your breast milk is going to be full of these really high quality healthy fats. And, you know, at when we’re pregnant, we try to think about our health more than at any point in our life, you know, maybe once we get past the first trimester, with what we’re eating. And so, you know, really looking at incorporating more of these grass fed products into our daily diet is something that we should be striving for. And you know, we’ll talk about costs and how to make that work to In this episode, but I’m glad you brought that up, because those things are really important. And now what about the environment? How does why is it important issues grass fed and finished for the environment?

Nadine Rich 14:31
Yeah, no? Great, great question. And so there’s obviously lots of conversation around how do you kind of restore these grass and prairie lands, quite frankly, that have been used for lots of different reasons, and kind of monocrops and things of that nature, right. And so we’ve had a lot of conversation around dirt versus actual soil. And what’s what’s fascinating is Teton Waters Ranch actually started as an experiment in regenerative agriculture and regenerative farming. Our founder had purchased land on the Idaho side of the Teton range. And it was a spent potato farm. And so you know, you walk onto that property, and you had a bunch of dirt, there was nothing kind of like living and had been mono croped for potatoes for a really long time. And so he went through the process of putting back native grasses and trying to rehabilitate the land to its kind of original prairie state; prior to what it had looked like before farming came in. And one of the things that he learned during this process is someone’s like, you need to put ruminant animals on there, which are really, you know, cattle to mimic what these bison herds and stuff had done in the millennia past. And so adding the addition of cattle that Ranch is what really made it transformative, quite frankly. We got migratory birds that came back and the green lush grasses, when you look at like the contrast between, you know, that ranch and his neighbors was truly dramatic in terms of restoring this dirt into actual soil that could support an ecosystem. And so, you know, by default, that is how Teton Waters ranch became this grass fed and finished beef company, because then we had a lot of cattle on original kind of home ranch. And so that dramatic transition of a piece of land is it really sparked and was the foundation for why everything that we do is regenerative focus, quite frankly,

Stephanie Greunke 16:28
yeah. And what I love, I just love hearing your story, because one of the benefits of going to a farmers market per se is you’re going to get really quality fruits and vegetables and local honey and meats. And you’re also going to get a chance to know the farmer and know who’s creating the products that you’re consuming. And just hearing your story and hearing why you’re passionate about it. And why you know, it’s not that you’re just trying to sell a product, you’re really trying to better the environment. And you are really concerned about the health of the animals that you’re you’re sourcing from and their quality of life. So I really respect that. And I’d love to hear kind of the final pillar of why these products are better for the animals and why you decided to get that certified humane stamp of approval.

Nadine Rich 17:17
Yeah, so the third pillar, right, that we’re talking about in terms of the animals is just as integrated as important to us as our other two, quite frankly. And so we think that you know, happy animal leads to a happier life and better quality. And so our cattle are 100% grass fed and finished. for their entire life, there is no grain kind of ever in their diet, which we think is super important, as we talked about in terms of what cattle are really meant to digest. They’re never given hormones or antibiotics. The certified humane is important to us because they’re treated with care. And they’re allowed to behave naturally. And for us at Teton Waters Ranch, we take it that a step further. And we allow them to spend their entire lives on pasture. And I’m sure we’ll talk about this. But when you think about grass fed, it can mean a lot of different things. And for us, it’s really important for the animals health and well being that they’re grass fed, not via pellets, or anything like that it’s really kind of out on pasture, and that we think just kind of leads to a healthier animal, quite frankly, and a better humane life.

Stephanie Greunke 18:22
So there are a ton of buzzwords that are out there what we’re looking at labels of meat. I mean definitely eggs, there’s a ton, but let’s talk specifically about meat. So there’s grass fed, you might see just the word grass fed, you might see 100% grass fed, you might see grass finished. So what is the difference between all of those things?Just to make sure that we’re getting what we pay for because there is some differentiation between those. And if you are going to be spending that extra couple of dollars, you want to make sure that it’s quality product

Nadine Rich 18:56
completely. And to your point there is a lot of label confusion is out there, you know, if you’re walking your deli aisle, or you’re at your butcher department in your local grocery store, you know, first and foremost, there aren’t a lot of grass fed beef options. And when you see them, they can all say something a little bit different. And labels can mean a different thing depending on kind of what product it’s on. So first and foremost, grassfed might not be what you think you’re buying. Because you know, you can have a grass fed cow that is standing in a feedlot eating grass pellets. And so you know back to kind of our always on pasture at Teton Waters Ranch that just doesn’t feel like the best kind of place for a cow to kind of live its life, right. And so what we mean when we talk about grassfed at Teton Waters Ranch, is they are on pasture eating grass in and from start to finish. And there aren’t any kind of supplements around grain. You can have, you know, hay, which is cut grass, and oftentimes that is used in the winter, depending on kind of where our partner ranches are, or farms are, they might need that. But there isn’t any type of grain or corn or soy or supplements that go into their feed. And you know, for me, that’s super important, because you want to understand where your food is coming from. I’m sure a lot of your listeners think that way too. One way that we try and get a lot of that information out is at Teton Waters Ranch, we actually have a great newsletter that we send out electronically once a month or so. And it has blog posts with our, you know, partner farmers with our head of procurement. That you know, the newsletter isn’t just discounted ad, its kind of real Q&A that we have with these farmers and with the folks that work here that talk about what we’re doing that is different. And I think that that level of education is super important. Because to your point, you’re spending extra money for grassfed and finished, you want to know what you’re getting. So you can sign up for that newsletter on our website too, to get that every month.

Stephanie Greunke 20:57
No, I think that’s, that’s beautiful. I love that to you do that to help educate your consumers and the general public about where their meat is coming from. And I hear you know, this is what pushback that I get from a lot of vegans and vegetarians is that they don’t want to consume animal protein because it’s not good for the environment or the animals aren’t treated humanely. And what I like to do is educate them that there are companies like yours that are out there that are doing really great things. And if they at some point decide to consume animal protein, again, that they can feel good about it because you guys are really going above and beyond what other brands are doing to make sure that they’re getting not just delicious meat, but they’re also getting meat that’s thoughtfully procured and the animals are treated well. So I know that’s another thing that you guys just recently launched, you launched a burger that is a blend of beef and mushrooms. So I think this is really great for people that are maybe vegans and vegetarians that are trying to get back into eating animal meat again, or maybe there’s people that prefer a more plant based diet. So can you kind of explain why you decided to create this product I’ve been seeing these pop up quite frequently even at restaurants is that blend of mushroom and beef, I’d love to kind of hear your thought process around that.

Nadine Rich 22:12
Oh, of course, it’s it’s very popular right now. At Teton Waters Ranch, we want to be the solution for good clean protein options for every part of your day for your family. And we’ve talked a little bit as you know, I walk the grocery store, the options for grass fed beef are really limited, you know, maybe ground beef and not a lot else. And quite frankly not you know, there might be some cuts of beef behind the butcher counter. But some of these can be really expensive. And you know, I’m feeding a family of five. And so $49 stakes are just not something that I can stock up on and even use, right? So we want to be at Teton Waters Ranch, the whole solution for people and their families. And so we bring super familiar foods that you know, you and I both love. And we know that kids and families love them. And we give you kind of permission to eat them again with this grass fed and finished beef that we’re bringing and we want to be accessible and affordable. And you know, specifically when it comes to our burger blends, we talked to our fans about what they want to eat and what they want to serve. And, you know, look at kind of what’s on trend as you’re talking about, you know, thinking of things that are in the restaurants you know, talking to our consumers and they want to integrate vegetables into their diets. And you know, how do we kind of wrap that all with our ability at Teton Waters Ranch to bring grass fed and finished beef to everyone. And so this direction with our new burger blends line really kind of hits the nail on the head for that. For us, it’s you know, a delicious blend of our grass fed and finished beef with non GMO mushrooms. It gives us amazing umami hit in terms of taste, because first and foremost, you need to love the way it tastes. And we think that these things just really knock it out of the park, quite frankly, for us, you know, from the mixed animal protein and plant based approach to eating, we think that this is a fantastic option. You know, you have your grass fed leaner meat and has an healthier profile, as you talked about before. And so the incorporation of the mushrooms in there, you know can give anywhere between like 30 to 50%, of that fat and calories that you would get from a typical burger. So we think that there was room for, you know, kind of plant and animal foods. There’s a spectrum, quite frankly. And one thing that I think is also great is, you know, we call it here at Teton Waters Ranch, because a lot of us obviously have kids and young families is a little bit of that stealth health, quite frankly, where you know, kids don’t notice. Or maybe you’re like, you know, picky older members of your family. They don’t notice the mushrooms in there. It’s just a delicious tasting burger. But you can feel great about kind of that ability to incorporate more vegetables into their diet.

Stephanie Greunke 24:42
Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, we had those actually last night, we were playing out in the cul de sac and the kids were having a really good time. And I realized it was six o’clock and we didn’t have anything for dinner. Usually weekends, like we’ve gone through all the meal prep stuff, we’re running out of food, you know, we had just gone to the grocery store, but like nothing was made quite yet. And so my husband ran inside, I hung out with the kids, he fried them in a pan and we just serve them with what we had, we put them on a lettuce wrap. And then we had a side of roasted cauliflower that was leftover from the meal prep. And it was great. And what I loved about these blends is that the nutrition profile is wonderful. There was like 15 grams of protein in one burger and 30% of the daily value for iron. So my kids were eating it, they dip their’s in ketchup, because that’s kind of their thing right now. But I felt good knowing that they had that really high quality protein, I think there was 15 grams of fat and they had a ton of iron in that meal to help keep their blood sugar stable throughout the night and to really help with their growth and development. And you know, when you’re looking at it, that box of four was about $10. So if you think about that plus cauliflower, which is maybe $1 or $2 for the whole head of it, that is much cheaper than ordering a pizza or having takeout or, you know, buying something from a store that’s pre made. And so yeah, it is a little bit more expensive when you’re looking at it side to side with other products that are in the grocery store, but for the health benefits, for the environment benefits, for the animal benefits. And then, you know, just really comparison wise, it’s not it’s not too out of reach.

Nadine Rich 26:23
No, exactly. And that is really our goal at Teton Waters Ranch, is how can you make these family favorites, right? Like, my kids will never say no to a burger, my kids are never going to say no to hotdogs or dinner sausage, or quite frankly, I use the breakfast sausage a lot for them in the morning, too, because it’s a great source of delicious protein that they want to eat. But then I know that it’ll keep them going kind of all morning, like when they’re in camp this summer or at school. And so it brings all these familiar family favorites that you know are going to kind of knock it out of the park, but then you just feel better about giving it to them because, you know, we have simple clean ingredients. As you’ve mentioned, it’s you know, it’s beef, and then it’s spices. And that’s kind of it, there’s nothing in the ingredient line that you don’t recognize that you could buy and see in the grocery store. You know, no chemicals, no fillers, nothing.

Stephanie Greunke 27:15
Yeah, absolutely. And so, you know, kind of looking at the cost, there is a little bit of a sense of privilege, right, being able to purchase grass fed hundred percent grass fed over conventional meat and, you know, $10, it may be a stretch for some families. And so what kind of tips do you have for families who hear what you’re saying, they agree with what you’re saying, they want to incorporate more 100% grass fed meat into their dinner in their family’s lifestyle, but they can’t make it happen for every meal?

Nadine Rich 27:45
Yeah. No, I mean, I completely understand that, I mean, one of the things that you could do is you could make kind of these burgers at home, right. And I think that they’re super easy. And it might take a little bit of that expense out and quite frankly, for different people. And so if you take an eight ounce package, it’s super easy and straightforward. You take an eight ounce package of kind of your basic white mushrooms and just finally dice them or you can pop them in the food processor, quite frankly, because it’s just easier. And then combine it really well with a pound of 100% grass fed beef. That is usually you know, available at most grocery stores, quite frankly, because I feel like there’s always that ground beef action when there are other options and a nice way to kind of stretch it. You can go as far as roasting your mushrooms with some garlic if you really wanted to, you know get fancy but if your time strapped, like I usually am, and I just dice them, throw them together and mix it really nicely put in some of your favorite spices, you know, keep it simple salt and pepper is great, maybe a little bit of onion powder, garlic powder, simple clean ingredients, you can really let the delicious taste and kind of those mushrooms and beef come through. Form them into patties. Don’t knead it. Don’t overwork it. And you know, grill it three or four minutes per side and on your grill outside now that it’s summer, right, or on the cast iron skillet inside and you can cook it to your liking. And I think that that’s a really kind of approachable, easy way to make it at home without having, you know, to go through the process of the purchase of the pre made stuff.

Stephanie Greunke 29:13
Yeah, absolutely. And like you were saying, you know, choosing cuts that may be more affordable to you. So maybe a stew meant or a grass fed ground beef is going to be a lot more reasonable and realistic for you then buying the steaks. I mean, it’s very rare that we have steaks in our house too. It’s like a celebration or, you know, maybe they were given to us by a family or we’re out to eat. But yeah, it doesn’t happen very often here. We really focus on the grass fed ground beef and even you know, when we purchase a cow share, that’s what we ask them for. We’re like, yeah, like, thank you so much for all the cool cuts, but we just really want more ground beef more than anything.

Nadine Rich 29:51
Yeah, no, ground beef, we use that a lot too, right. So that’s how you can use them in burgers, using a lot of meatballs or other types of things. You can use them right for even like taco day with your kids, right. It’s just a great way to bring an elevated better for you beef option into where you would kind of traditionally put a conventional beef, but it’s a great way to make that much healthier swap.

Stephanie Greunke 30:14
Yeah, absolutely. And understanding that, you know, you don’t have to have 100% grass fed meat at all three of your meals seven days a week, right, you can do eggs in the morning, which were cheaper source of protein or a smoothie and then had that grass fed me as your dinners a couple of nights a week. So it’s not something that you’re having to purchase multiple times a day for multiple meals, it’s just incorporating it into your diet. When you feel like you have the money the weeks that you get your paycheck and you have that extra a couple of dollars to spend and finding cuts and maybe choosing less convenience when you need to save a couple of dollars.

Nadine Rich 30:50
Exactly, exactly. And I feel like we can make our… at my house you know I made the dinner sausages, the hot dogs stretch further because it’s not just like, Hey, here’s a hotdog for dinner. It’s like how do I have one dog that may be cut up and then I put it with you know, vegetables or a big fruit side or something like that, that are all good finger foods that my kids can pick but then it can get spread across multiple meals throughout the week versus saying like, let’s use the whole pack for just one cookout, for example.

Stephanie Greunke 31:18
Yeah, and I find that too, you know, with your products, you don’t use any filler. So it is that the grass fed meat and the higher protein and fat than other products that are out there. And so you have one hot dog and that can fill you whereas, you know maybe it was some other hot dogs that use those fillers or use a lot of salt and water, then you might need two or three so it is a lot more filling because of that.

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Let’s kind of move into a little bit more about you because you’re just so interesting. You are a full time employee, you just have this beautiful family of three kids. When I talked to you at Expo West one of the things that I loved hearing was that you were doing a breastfeeding Whole30. So I would love to hear, I love hearing stories about breastfeeding Whole30s. So I would kind of love to hear how that went for you, what you notice in yourself and with your little one, and some tips maybe that you have if we have listeners who are interested in doing one.

Nadine Rich 33:22
Sure. So as you as you said, I’m a working mom of three kids. So time is really kind of hard to come by I did Whole30 this last January while I was nursing my baby who just happened to be like six, seven months at the time. And I think you know that typical first week was a typical first week that I think a lot of people kind of find themselves on the Whole30 in terms of I was a little cranky, I was angry, which I think is exacerbated quite frankly, with your nursing because you’re just I for me, I am always really hungry, quite frankly, especially when I’m nursing. One of the things I found is that my milk supply I think did dip in that beginning kind of first week and I was I was a little bit concerned because I was you know trying to pump and work and make sure that my my daughter had enough milk and so I did a little research and I found that I wanted to make sure I incorporated starchy kind of vegetables with every meal. And so I was consuming a lot of kind of sweet potatoes, whether I cook them with ghee, or roasted vegetables like carrots or beets or parsnips, I kind of had those. And I put them with every meal. So in the morning, if I had, you know a hard boiled egg, I’d have sweet potato with ghee, if you know at nighttime, whenever if I was having said like salmon or chicken, I’d had these roasted vegetables, I made sure to kind of incorporate them as much as I could throughout the day. And I felt like that really helped. The other thing that I did was I tried to drink coconut milk. And I did that kind of once a day if I was having, you know, like my, my coffee in the morning black maybe I’d have a little bit of a coconut milk in there as well. And I that, as you talked about earlier is was really kind of beneficial in terms of you know, going into my milk supply and helping me kind of continue to produce, while I was on Whole30.

Stephanie Greunke 35:15
Yeah, and you’re talking about the full fat can coconut milk, right? Not like, the carton.

Nadine Rich 35:20
No, like the kind that you go to the can and I like would dump it out the can and then have to whisk it like that layer of fat at the top and I kind of made myself these like fancy coffees like I go and maybe have like a you know, I drink a lot of decaf, and so I’d have this like decaf kind of just espresso, and then I you know whisk up my milk and put it in the microwave and put it on top of it was really like indulgent kind of way to take in my coffee in the morning. But I think that that boost of fat really helped.

Stephanie Greunke 35:47
Yeah, and for sure the carbs too. And, and a lot of times it’s because it’s a dramatic switch from you know, you’re eating mainly grains and oats, and you’re having more processed foods that are higher in carbs too. Whole30 is often lower carb because you’re taking away in the legumes and the grains, it doesn’t have to be low carb, but oftentimes that’s kind of what people default to. So that quick shift in diet can cause your body to be like what’s going on, and that may affect your milk supply. And so bringing back those starchy vegetables at each meal is usually a very effective strategy along with adding extra fats like you know, with the full fat coconut milk just to make sure that your calorie needs in addition to your carbohydrate needs don’t drop too low. So you are spot on with that, that whatever you read, hopefully it was something on our website that helped you. Because we have a lot of blogs. But that’s those are quite a few of our recommendation. So I know

Nadine Rich 36:41
exactly your website is full of amazing tips that kind of helped me through not only that month, but just kind of every day.

Stephanie Greunke 36:49
I love hearing that. Thank you. So what did you notice in baby? And what did you notice in yourself when you did the Whole30? After things got better after the first week?

Nadine Rich 36:58
Yeah, no, I mean, I there was a dramatic improvement, quite frankly, to my energy levels and my ability to kind of concentrate. And it’s amazing because that, you know, I have, I feel like I’ve been in this cycle of having kids and or nursing, or, you know, being up in the middle of the night, quite frankly, for the last five years, just the way that you know, our family’s been kind of like laid out and even with kind of like middle of the night wakings or feedings for my youngest daughter or my middle daughter or somthing like that was having a rough night, I felt like my energy was just so much more present. And it was is palpable the difference in it. And it allowed me I think, to be much more productive kind of when I was in the office. And that gave me then clarity and a feeling quite frankly, of accomplishment of like, Okay, I’m going to leave my desk now and go home and kind of be with my kids. And I felt like that productivity and energy allowed me to do that. And quite frankly, it was a great opportunity for me to make that mental shift of saying I need to, you know, kind of close the computer at the end of the day and focus on my kids. And I didn’t have a lot of other things kind of hanging over my head because I felt like I had the energy and the ability to focus and get those done during the day.

Stephanie Greunke 38:12
Isn’t that so… it’s just so cool. Seeing how far the benefits spread, you know, you go into it thinking like, Oh, I want to help my little one with her reflux, or I want to feel more energy. And then you find that it just improves your quality of life in so many different areas that you couldn’t even have picked out before you start. So I love hearing that it helps you so much. And you know, what is your What does your daily diet look like now? Have you added more things? Is it pretty close to Whole30 stil? Is a completely different?

Nadine Rich 38:41
Yeah, it’s actually still pretty darn close. My husband and I both he joined me in in January, we both did it. And it is still pretty darn close to where we were from January, I am a little bit more loose with what I’ve incorporated back in then then he is he’s actually following it to a tee he just feels so much better about it. It’s funny, we went out to dinner on Saturday night. and we indulged and got some dessert kind of after dinner. And the next day, he’s like I can completely feel the difference. And I had like that overdose of sugar is what he called it from from dessert. So it’s a palpable difference. And so we’ve kind of stuck pretty closely to it since then. I probably have a little bit more of those whole grains or things like that, that I’ve incorporated back into my diet. But I would say those are like two or three times a week versus, you know, the multiple times a day and a meal that I feel like I was at before.

Stephanie Greunke 39:36
Yeah, it’s all about finding what works for you and what feels good in your body. And it is surprising once you kind of go off the norm, you’re like, oh, yep, that’s why I eat the way that I do. It’s very clear.

Nadine Rich 39:48
It’s so it’s so apparent.

Stephanie Greunke 39:50
Yeah, yeah. So now you work full time, you’re a mom of three little ones. So I kind of want to hear what a day in the life of Nadine looks like and how would you make everything work? I love hearing these stories. It gives me great ideas. And I hope our listeners enjoy it too. So let’s talk about what your life looks like. How do you make it work?

Nadine Rich 40:09
Sure, sure. Well, it’s you know, it’s a little bit of organized chaos, quite frankly, with the one three and five year old. As I mentioned, I love to start my day, kind of just with a smoothie, I feel like it sets me up for eating the right things and you know, mentally trying to go into the day on a good foot and sharing it with my family as I can. I’m always on the move though, quite frankly, especially in the mornings, I try to do some of that prep, quite frankly, with my kids like backpacks or whatever they’re taking the camp I like to lay that out the night before. But I usually do a lot of the food stuff morning of and so I find myself quite frankly eating on the go a lot. And so I have to try and prepare ahead for that, whether it’s you know, hard boiled eggs, I’ll make a dozen of them or two dozen if my husband’s home every Sunday, and I do a lot of a boil them and then I’ll kind of pre peel them. So quite frankly, I can just grab them out of a bowl in the fridge. And I don’t have to worry about scrambling to peel it because I feel like whenever you’re in a hurry, you try and peel a hard boiled egg it just it doesn’t work. Like it’s like just complete frustration. And I just don’t need that at seven in the morning when I have three people asking me for breakfast so that I can eat that or some of the other things that I do quite frankly, with our Teton Waters Ranch products. You know, in the morning, I’ll pop and some of them because we have their pre cooked breakfast sausages, there’s no sugar added to our spicy and our original. And so they’re easy and simple. I put those in I’ll reheat them and I can even put a cracked egg in there too. And do scrambled eggs in the microwave which people think are kind of crazy, but they actually come out really well if I throw a little if I whisk them up and I throw a little bit of kind of ghee in there. I think they have a great flavor and I can easily slide those in on my kids plates and they’ll eat those and the breakfast sausage and then I can eat the breakfast sausage and my hard boiled eggs and walking around and getting like the baby dressed or things like that. Some of the other things that I do to kind of help with the evening I think you know because it’s this rush out the door in the morning and then it’s like you come home and how are you? How are you going to get dinner on the plate really quickly. You know, I will… if you go to our website quite frankly Teton Waters Ranch, you wouldn’t believe kind of the amazing meal ideas that our fans send to us or people kind of tag us in and we love to see those and kind of post them on our website as well as our Instagram or Facebook page. We have a lot of options out there. But some of them that are my favorites, quite frankly, are ones that I can do in like 20 minutes or less with no prep, right. So it’s like my go to is a sheet pan where I throw the oven on for 350 I get out some of our dinner sausages I slice those up, I put in I put some vegetables with some olive oil and maybe some salt and pepper, kind of throw it in for 20 minutes. And you’re good to go. And I can put my kids favorites on there. Whether it’s broccoli, my husband and I love cauliflower, or even roasted brussels sprouts, like they’re just a great way to kind of throw them in there. And then we can be getting kids like cleaned up hands washed, set the table. And then we can sit down really quickly when we get home.

Stephanie Greunke 43:18
Yeah, those are great. What about do you use like the instant pot or the slow cooker or what other kind of quick and easy meals to make besides the sheet pan meals?

Nadine Rich 43:27
Yeah, so we actually have… Teton Waters Ranch has a great amount of kind of slow cooker meals that you can find on our website, I do a lot of those like a beef and vegetable soup because what I love about that is if I’m going to do like a prep day on Sunday, or even like morning, I’d be just chopping vegetables, you throw them in there, you throw in our sausage, and you know the bone broth or chicken broth or whatever you might have on hand and then I love it because I can just let that slow cooker do all the work for me while I’m at it at work. Another one that we kind of is a go to for us to is kind of kind of create your own pizza toppings with sausage that we have and then vegetables and our kids get excited about that because I feel like they’re always more prone to eat whatever they help you have a hand in making, right so we have pre made pizza crust that we have for the kids. My husband and I love like the cauliflower based ones or making ones and you kind of throw on your you know, tomato sauce and then I have a bunch of just chopped veggies whether it’s you know, colorful peppers that they’d like to see or you know, some spinach leaves and things like that and they can kind of do a little bit of art and then you can top it off with a number of hot dogs or you know we have a, Teton Waters Ranch has a great kind of like mild Italian, or even like a spicy one that competitive kick up the level. And I think that those just fare really nicely for quick go to meals, because you know, you put those things in the Ellen and they’re baking in like 10 or 15 minutes. And you’re done.

Stephanie Greunke 44:53
Yeah, exactly. And, you know, my kids love finger foods too. So having like the sausages or the hot dogs cut into like little pieces, and then they have their little chopsticks or their toothpicks. And they just kind of play when they’re like it’s always fun to do that kind of thing. And then they’ll have their, maybe their vegetables or their fruit that they can pick out with their fingers and dip in a fun sauce. Like you know, we do ranch dressing, or guacamole or even mayo here. And so it’s just kind of fun. And that only takes a couple of minutes just have to heat it up. You know, sometimes they ask for cold, they don’t even want to heat it up. So it doesn’t take any time.

Nadine Rich 45:27
They’re already fully cooked so that makes them so easy. I mean, as you think about finger food, that’s one of the things that are my kids favorites, too. And so like as I make them little kind of like lunch boxes, and they’re going to school or going to camp, I can take the hot dogs and we have little we call them like junior hotdogs or cocktail ones. And you can put those in or you can still slice them up and you make this like fun little bento box where everything is meant to get picked up with their hands. And they can kind of create different flavors, if they want to combine my kids call them combo bites, right? Where they’re dipping, and then walk or something like that, that just gets in the excited about eating. And it’s colorful when you’re incorporating vegetables. And then you know, they have a great piece of protein too. And so you just feel good about it. And they’re so excited. It just kind of a win win.

Stephanie Greunke 46:11
Yeah, yep. And I also use them and I was breastfeeding. I remember there are times where I was just like so hungry. And I needed something quick. But then like my little one needed to nurse the exact same time and I’m all alone by myself and my toddler is running around. And so I mean, there were times where I would just take like a hot dog or a sausage and throw it in the microwave for like think it was like 15 seconds, I had it perfectly timed out. And then take it out, wrap it around like a paper towel and literally just eat it like whole and just take little bites because I’m like I need a one handed meal, I need something that isn’t going to spike my blood sugar, I need something that’s filling. And that’s what I would do. Or you know, maybe I’d be fancy and like dip it in a guacamole cup or something like that, too. But I needed that like really quick, healthy fat and protein. And my husband would look at me and he’d be like, “You’re ridiculous”, but I needed that. I just needed that energy. I was so hungry.

Nadine Rich 47:00
I’ve been there and done the exact same thing, right, like these one handed meals while you’re nursing are so important. So I have done this sausage or a hot dog and a paper towel, right? Like, I got a packet of peanut butter that you know, almond butter that I can sqeeze kind of directly into my mouth. And if I was really fancy, I might have like some mini carrots with it. But stuff like that is super important to kind of keep you going you got to take care of yourself so that you can then you know, in turn take care of your baby. And I think, you know, I think with my first I forgot that a lot. And my husband really you need to put him down or someone’s really colicky right. So I was holding him the whole time. He said you need to put him down and eat something because you can’t hear him without taking care of yourself. And I was like you’re right, like the four minutes that it took for me to like, throw something in the microwave and maybe consume it or even hold him Then again, while I was finishing it up was super important to taking care of both of us, quite frankly.

Stephanie Greunke 47:57
Yeah, you got it. Yeah, I think I think the funniest that I did that I’ll never live down is: my son, he didn’t have colic, but he was a really, really fussy baby. And I could only calm him him by going for a walk outside like that was thank goodness, we lived in California, because I can’t imagine living anywhere else. But yeah, I could just walk outside all the time with him. I remember one day he was not having it. But he really needed to sleep and I really needed to eat. And so I had a couple of baked potatoes, big sweet potatoes that were in my refrigerator already cooked. And I was on a Whole30 at the time, I was like maybe I can calm him his fussiness by eating Whole30. And so I was doing a breastfeeding Whole30 and he needed to get outside, grab the sweet potato, put it in my pocket, because I needed to like, buckle him up and get everything ready. And I’m like opening the door and pulling out the sweet potato from my pocket. And my husband looks at me and he’s like, I don’t understand you in this season of life. Like, you can sit down. I’m like, but I really can’t like we need to calm him down. So yeah, I mean, we’ve all been there. It’s just sometimes you really need the convenience, but you also need to eat well. So that’s why I’m so grateful that there are companies out there doing what you’re doing. And thank you for so much for coming on to share a little bit more about all the great work that you’re doing. It’s really appreciated. And where can we find your products if we are interested in trying them?

Nadine Rich 49:21
Yes. So we are available in a variety stores kind of nationwide, you can always go to tetonwatersranch.com, and we have a product finder there. And so you can type in your zip code or the name of your town, it’ll pop up all the grocery stores that we are available in but you can find that you know places like any of the Kroger banners, Costco, you know, natural grocers, we’re available in a wide variety of like really kind of nationwide. And so go to that product finder and you can search what’s closest to you and then be able to go in and store and find us.

Stephanie Greunke 49:54
Yeah, my favorite place to get them is Costco because I can get a them in bulk. And freeze whatever we’re not going to use right away. So yeah, thank you so much. Is there anything that you want to leave our listeners with before you go,

Nadine Rich 50:07
you know, I really appreciate being on and being able to talk to you as well as your listeners just about how important grass fed and finished and what we’re trying to do here at Teton Waters Ranch. So thank you for the time, I would invite anybody to come to our website, a special section of it’s called the Roundup, it’s a little bit of what I talked about in terms of blog posts with our farmers and with folks that work here that can talk to everyone about what is important to us and kind of what makes us tick on along our missions and values. So if you ever have any questions, you know, send us a note, send us an email. We love hearing from fans we love to be we’re always here to answer any questions and be a resource for people.

Stephanie Greunke 50:48
And thank you so much. And we’ll put all those links in the show notes including a link to your newsletter so they can see where their meat is coming from.

Nadine Rich 50:54
Awesome. Thank you for your time.

Stephanie Greunke 50:56
Thank you. Bye bye.

Nadine Rich 50:57
Bye.

Stephanie Greunke 50:59
We hope you enjoyed today’s episode with Nadine Rich from Teton Waters Ranch. You can find their products at your local Costco, Sprouts, Safeway, Albertsons, and a host of other stores. Check out their store locator at tetonwatersranch.com and check out our show notes to see links to some of Nadine’s favorite recipes, their newsletter and their social media channels. And as always, please remember that the views and ideas presented on this podcast are for informational purposes only. All information content and material presented on this podcast is not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis or medical treatment of a qualified physician or health care provider. Consult with your provider before starting any diet, supplement regimen, or to determine the appropriateness of the information shared on this podcast or if you have any questions regarding pregnancy or your prenatal treatment plan. Now go on, have a great day and nourish and nurture yourself and your family.

Topics Discussed:

Whole family meal solutions for busy moms

Tips for #breastfeedingWhole30

How to purchase grass-fed meat while on a budget

Teton Waters Ranch commitment to being better for you, the planet, and the animals

This episode's guest

Nadine Rich is currently the Director of Marketing at Teton Waters Ranch, a marketer of 100% grass-fed and finished beef products. A dynamo in her field, Nadine has 18 years of experience growing household brands, with an innate talent for creating and launching innovative new food products. Prior to her role at Teton Waters Ranch, Nadine served as Vice President of Marketing for a disruptive, healthy vending start-up. She previously led teams at Tyson Foods and Kraft, innovating products for Hillshire, Jimmy Dean and Jell-O. Originally from Philly, Nadine now lives in Boulder, Colorado with her husband James and three little ones – Harlan, Adeline and Nora. She enjoys running, baking, hiking and yoga, and is working hard to master the art of traveling with young children.

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